UK: Ofcom snubs Royal Mail competition pleas

Unnamed sources say communications watchdog Ofcom is set to reject requests by mail delivery service Royal Mail for new regulations for its rivals to level the playing field, according to reports.

Ofcom reviewed Royal Mail’s concerns that rivals are impeding the company’s ability to meet its universal service obligation because competitors, such as Whistl, are allowed to “cherry-pick” the most advantageous aspects of Royal Mail’s operations since competition was implemented to breakup the onetime monopoly. That leaves Royal Mail to cover more expensive, rural areas for its delivery services, the company says.

The universal service obligation requires Royal Mail to cover all UK addresses for the same low rate.

But after reviewing the complaint, Ofcom is reportedly set to deny requests to launch an investigation into the matter and impose rules that would address what Royal Mail sees as a “threat…to the financial sustainability of the Universal Service.”

Ofcom is looking into the industry with a probe expected to begin in 2015.

The government sold its 60 percent stake in Royal Mail in October 2013.

Full content: Sky News

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